'Violent Crime' Contributes £71M To UK Economy News

In what can only be described as giving the proverbial â??two-fingersâ?? to the Daily Mail-esque attitude that violence in any form of media breeds violence in society, itâ??s been revealed that Rockstar North (creators of that most influential of games, Grand Theft Auto) contributed £71 million to the UK economy in 2004.

The list of the Top 100 developers that have contributed to the UK economy has been compiled by industry magazine Develop, who based positions on the amount of revenue created through UK retail between January 1st 2004 to December 31st 2004.

The Top 10 contributors are as follows:

• EA Canada (£93,513,089 generated at UK retail)
• Rockstar North (£71,067,230)
• Maxis (£31,907,533)
• EA Redwood Shores (£30,600,306)
• Ubisoft Montreal (£22,930,009)
• London Studios (SCEE) (£22,914,433)
• KCE Tokyo (£22,127,973)
• Sonic Team (£20,762,935)
• Codemasters (£19,153,610)
• EA LA (£18,934,945)

Owain Bennallack, Editor at Develop Magazine commented that, "It's been an interesting exercise, and surprising not just because of the positions attained by some of the largest developers behind the largest games, but also how much each team contributed to the UK games industry," says. "It's time, at last, for the developers themselves to get recognition, and we're confident the Develop 100 will become a much anticipated and much discussed industry publication."

The list means that sales of EA titles contributed just under £175 million in 2004 with Rockstar North a strong second place ahead of Ubisoft Montreal in third. The feat is all the more impressive when Rockstar North only released two titles in the twelve months period, Manhunt on Xbox and GTA: San Andreas for PS2.

Weâ??ll have more on shortly...